"So... How has the job search been going?" the woman across from me mutters, the bookish and dark-haired academic leaning in a little to sit at the steaming hot latte as she pulls a little at her navy blue scarf.
Despite having broken up over a year ago Fiona and I had still caught up regularly, our lives having been enmeshed for so long that it was hard at this point to simply not remain friends.
"Well... about the same as it has been..." I grumble back, having received a fresh batch of rejections this morning. I watch as my former girlfriend purses her lips a little, a slight bit of foam from the coffee clinging to them as she seems to ponder something.
"I think Latham is hiring again, you know... after all the lay-offs" she muses, raising one of her somewhat pudgy fingers to her chin in thought. It had been well over a year at this point, a year since myself and many of my colleagues had been forced out of academia due to 'over-hiring' during the pandemic.
I feel a pang of frustration at the news along with a slight elation, annoyance that they seemed to have let me go for nothing blending with a hope that I could just slip back given my prior experience.
"Really?" I cough, spluttering a little into my own coffee as I choke down a half-sip. "Maybe I should..."
"Yeah..." Fiona mutters as she cuts me off absentmindedly. "Mrs Mawab said we needed to bring in some more people for diversity. I mean you remember how much of a... sausage..." she giggles, her laughter turning to an awkward chuckle as she looks over my rapidly souring expression. "... sorry..." she mutters, turning to attention back to her coffee as she sips more in an effort to keep from speaking.
